Paris Olympics: Ravi Dahiya to Bajrang Punia, Prominent Indian Athletes Who Will Miss The Games

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The Indian contingent is preparing in full swing for the Paris Olympics 2024 which is less than a month away. The participation of Indian athletes at the Summer Olympic Games has seen a steady rise.

However, some prominent names, including former medal winners and contenders, will not be participating due to various factors. MyKhel takes a look at the list of prominent athletes who will miss the Paris Olympics 2024.

Prominent Indian athletes who will miss Paris Olympics 2024

Pranati Nayak

Gymnast and Tokyo Olympian Pranati Nayak's hopes of competing for her country in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris were shattered when she was unable to earn a position in the FIG Apparatus World Cup 2024 series, which acted as an Olympic qualifying event.

At the first World Cup in Cairo, Egypt, in February 2024, Pranati made her way to Paris after winning third place in the vault event with great style. She was unable to compete in the World Cup that followed in Cottbus, Germany, since the federation did not send a team for that competition; therefore, her voyage came to an abrupt end.

Pranati encountered difficulties when returning to compete in the Baku leg, ultimately placing ninth. Despite her best efforts, she was unable to advance to the final in the Doha leg, finishing 11th in the qualifying round.

Ravi Dahiya

Wrestler Ravi Dahiya, who won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, had his hopes of competing in the Paris Olympics abruptly dashed in May when the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) opted against holding a preliminary trial. Rather, the WFI declared that India would be represented by the six wrestlers who met the quota requirements by winning the previous trials in March 2024.

In the Sonipat trials, Ravi competed to make the Indian Olympic qualifying squad but he lost. He made a determined return after a long injury layoff, but in the men's 57kg category trials, Udit defeated him.

Nitu Ghangas

Boxer Nitu Ghangas, a gold medallist in the Commonwealth Games 2022, was not able to qualify for the Summer Olympics in Paris. Nitu had to switch to the 54 kg weight class in order to qualify for the Paris Olympics, even though she was a world champion in the 48 kg weight class, which is not included in the Olympic program.

Due to this change, she was not able to compete in the Games as Preeti Pawar defeated her, earning a seat on the Hangzhou 2023 squad and eventually an Olympic berth.

Parveen Hooda

Boxer Parveen Hooda, who qualified for the Olympics in the 57kg division with a bronze from the Asian Games last year and a bronze from the 2022 World Championships, broke WADA regulations by failing to disclose her whereabouts between April 2022 and March 2023.

Therefore, she was suspended for 22 months by the International Testing Agency (ITA), ruling her out.

Murali Sreeshankar

Due to a knee injury suffered during training, long jumper M. Sreeshankar, who won a silver medal at the Commonwealth and Asian Games, was forced to miss the full season of competition, including the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

The Palakkad native, who is 25 years old, had already guaranteed his place in the Paris Olympics when qualifying began on July 1, 2023. He accomplished this on July 15 by breaking the Olympic qualification criteria of 8.27 meters to win silver in the Asian Championships held in Bangkok.

Bhavani Devi

At the Asia Oceania Zonal Qualifiers in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, the six-member Indian fencing squad, captained by Tokyo Olympian Bhavani Devi, was unable to secure any quotas for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Three years ago, Bhavani Devi, who became the first fencer from India to compete in Tokyo 2020, was the top seed in the women's sabre category at the Fujairah competition.

She defeated Singapore's Juliet Jie Min Heng 15-8 to go to the quarterfinals, but Chu Wing Kiu of Hong Kong, China, defeated her 15-12 in the semifinals. The only people who received Olympic quotas for their country were the winners of each event.

Bajrang Punia

The National Anti-Doping Agency suspended Olympic medallist Bajrang Punia on June 23, Sunday, following the issuance of a Notice of Charge by the organization.

Punia was initially suspended for allegedly refusing to provide his sample during the selection trials held in Sonepat on March 10.

He ended up losing the trials and hence missed out on the chance to qualify for the Paris Olympics.

Shaili Singh

Long jump prodigy Shaili Singh failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics via the road to Paris world ranking quota. In the updated World Athletics rankings, she finished 38th out of 32 with 1190 points, missing qualification by approximately 15 points. Despite giving it her all this season and competing in 10 outdoor competitions, it wasn't enough for qualification.

Eldhose Paul

Eldhose Paul, the 27-year-old from Kerala, had won gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. The triple jumper, however, announced on Thursday that he has pulled out of the race to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games in July after sustaining a heel bone fracture.

He was slated to make a final attempt at the qualification at the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Panchkula.

Eldhose Paul won the gold medal with an effort of 16.24m in the triple jump at Meeting de Limoges 2024 athletics in June.

Women's hockey team

The Indian women's hockey team suffered disappointment after their unprecedented fourth-place result in the Tokyo Olympics when their hopes of making it to the Paris Olympics were shattered.

They were defeated 1-0 in their pivotal third-fourth classification encounter against Japan at the FIH Women's Qualifier in Ranchi in January, where a victory was required to guarantee an Olympic quota.

Mixed 4x400m relay team

The Indian mixed 4x400m relay team, on the last day of the National Inter-State Championships, broke a national record although they were only one second short of making it to the Paris Olympics.

The Indian team's target was to clock 3:11.87 to go past Kenya (3:11.88) and take the 16th and last spot. But the India A quartet of Muhammed Anas, Jyothika Sri Dandi, Muhammed Ajmal, and Kiran Pahal clocked 3:12.87 to win the race.

In the process, the Indian team broke the previous national record of 3:14.12 seconds which was recorded at the Asian Relay in Bangkok in May.